CHAPTER III 



THE FLORA OF EAST AND MIDDLE AFRICA AND ITS 

 RELATION TO THE FAUNA 



Two floral types stand out conspicuously in East Africa 

 and give the landscape its peculiar African character. 

 These two, the acacias and the giant euphorbias, are the 

 dominant tree forms, and are wide-spread throughout the 

 steppe and bush country. Although both genera are cos- 

 mopolitan, there is no other country in which the euphorbias 

 assume the giant, candelabra-like tree growths or where 

 their association with flat-topped acacia trees occurs. 

 These peculiar tree growths extend throughout the whole 

 region occupied by the game fields, and dominate the real 

 Africa of the sportsman. Both of them have, however, 

 received erroneous names at the hands of sportsmen. The 

 acacias are usually referred to as mimosas, a genus which 

 occurs in the region, but only as a small prickly shrub in 

 swampy districts. The tree euphorbias are often referred 

 to as cactuses because of their close resemblance in form 

 to the giant species of the American deserts, with which 

 they have no real relationship, being closely akin to some 

 of our common roadside weeds, the spurges. In the lower, 

 drier parts of this region two other conspicuous tree growths 

 appear which are much more peculiarly African, but are 

 less wide-spread. These latter, the grotesque gouty bao- 

 bab and the branching doum-palm, are not found beyond 



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